


The Ventrum: Rebels of Arkesh

by SandHand



Series: Star Wars: Adventures of the Ventrum [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Post-Star Wars: The Clone Wars, References to Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), Road Trips
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:42:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22959622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SandHand/pseuds/SandHand
Summary: The crew of The Ventrum begins their journey to the hidden rebel base with a stop on the remote swampy planet of Arkesh. While there they become entwined in a battle for the planet against local resistance fighters and a crew of hired guns. Unable to ignore the losing battle the locals are fighting the crew pledge to help defend Arkesh, but their involvement could further jeopardize their mission.
Series: Star Wars: Adventures of the Ventrum [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1635166
Comments: 7
Kudos: 4





	1. Misplaced

**Author's Note:**

> Just incase you're stumbling across it for some reason, this is the second story in a little series I'm starting. Other than that enjoy.

Lorelei pressed gently against her bandaged arm, as soon as it began to sting, she quickly retracted and winced. As much as it hurt, she figured it would fully heal in another day or so. They had already spent two in hyperspace, stopping occasionally, to change routes, all to make sure the Empire wasn’t on their tail. In that time Lorelei had only managed to receive passing smiles and glances from most of the crew, other than that she had stayed in the room they had given her. She decided it was time to stretch her legs, maybe see what Drake was up to at the bridge. She was surprised to see Zed standing in the doorway when it slid away “Oh, sorry.”

“Not a problem, just needed something from my room.” Lorelei laughed slightly at this but was quickly put off by Zed tilting his head a bit in confusion “What’s funny?”

“Nothing, it’s just; you were joking right?”

“Nope, these are usually my quarters.”

“Oh, I guess the crew decided you didn’t need them for now?”

“Nope, I offered them up when we were deciding where you’d stay.” As he spoke Zed scooted awkwardly past the jedi. She also tried not to be knocked over by the strangely shaped robot. While he carried himself properly, Zed was an amalgamation of several different droids. From what Lorelei could recognize he sported the head of a Separatist commando droid, the legs and right arm of a super battle droid, the torso of an imperial security droid, and an arm she didn’t recognize. She tried to look busy as Zed dug through some boxes that he pulled from under the bed. He grabbed some large metal cylinder and left without a word, heading right back for the bridge. Lorelei waited for a moment before heading out of the room. She eyed the door to the bridge but decided she might wait before seeing Zed and Drake, she felt like it would only be awkward now if she didn’t somehow thank the droid for his room. She turned and headed down to the Ventrum’s loading bay. As soon as she reached it there was a large clang followed by a low growl from Kara “Sorry” Bale said sheepishly.

Lorelei finished her trip down to the bay and say Bale scrambling to put some tools back into a small metal container “Everything okay down here?”

Bale looked up and nodded causing Kara to roll her eyes and push herself off the wall she had been leaning against “Bale _insisted_ on helping me check the ship for damage but all he’s doing is causing more.”

“We haven’t actually found any damage yet” Bale muttered lowly.  
“Keep dropping my stuff and we will.”

“So why did you offer to help?” From what Lorelei understood Bale was in charge of making sure all the electronics and systems on the Ventrum were working, while Kara made sure the ship was in good physical condition.

“He’s only doing _this,_ so I have to sit with him and start to learn about the ship’s electronics.”

“It’s never a bad idea to broaden your horizons, imagine how much more efficient we can be if we can do one another’s jobs as well as our own?”

“Don’t act like you’ll suddenly want to pull yourself away from your tablets to replacing armor plating.”

Lorelei moved in and began to help Bale with the last of the tools “Well I think both of those sound fun; maybe once you learn some more you’ll find out you both like it more than you thought.” She offered Bale a smile which he returned before getting to his feet with the toolbox. Kara gave a small sigh and took the box “Well then first thing you should learn is how to not drop your equipment.”

Lorelei watched as the two returned to work, moving around he walls looking for breaks and dents, fidgeting with screws and opening panels. After a few minutes she decided that they might be too easy to entertain her company. It still seemed to awkward to head to the bridge, so Lorelei gave a sigh and headed back for her room. As she left the bay and went down the short hall to her room, she couldn’t help but feel weird about everything. She had known hiring a crew, any crew, would mean she’d be a part of a group and a ship that would be completely foreign to her. She had prepared for the possibility that she would be treated like cargo, stuffed into a crate or in some smugglers hold under the floor. She had prepared for the idea that her identity would make someone want more credits or make her convince them not to hand her over to the imperials. Instead she had been given someone else’s room, an iffy, but genuine, handshake from the captain, and free reign to move around the ship. It almost felt like she was welcome, and that made her more uneasy than anything she could imagine. As Lorelei made it to the room the bridge doors opened and Drake stepped through, wiping his eyes. She stooped suddenly but addressed him “Hey.”

“Hey, just needed to stretch my legs and rest my eyes; it’s not good to just stare into hyperspace all day.”

“I can imagine.”

“How are you doing” Drake stretched and cleared his throat “you feel alright?”

“Yeah, why do you ask?”

Drake laughed a little “Because I just watched you lap the ship on the security cameras, only to come back here.”

Lorelei’s eyes shot to the floor but immediately snapped back up to Drake. He seemed tired, maybe hyperspace travel was more draining then he led on “I’m fine, just a little bored.”

“Well if you’ve got nothing going on, you owe me a chat.” 

Now it was Lorelei’s turn to laugh “Well you did promise me one.”

Both entered Lorelei’s room. She watched as he pulled two boxes from one of the walls and placed them opposite each other. Drake motioned for her to sit and went to the other end of the room. Lorelei took the invitation and continued to watch him as he moved, revealing a section of the wall that was full of drinks and glasses, it was hard to believe she didn’t find that. She had done a small sweep of the entire room, looking for listening devices or anything that was out of place. Drake poured two hefty glasses of clear liquid and sat on the other box. Lorelei took the drink immediately but hesitated to sip it “So what poison is this?”

“Uhm, water; I was thirsty” he said, taking a few gulps.

Lorelei gave a sniff to confirm then a small sip, it was just some cold water. She took a few more sips to compose herself, the water was surprisingly refreshing; it reminded her of the rich stuff the villagers on Tuntura would bring her. She resisted the urge of taking another sip and placed her drink down gently “So, what exactly did we need to talk about?”

“Well for starters I’d like to know who you are.”

“I’m Lorelei, I was a jedi before…before the Empire.”

“No” Lorelei was surprised by his reaction. When she looked up, he was mid sip, eyes closed. Drake then placed the drink back down and looked up at her, with that same serious aura he had given off after they narrowly escaped Simino. Drake motioned towards her “Try again.”

She thought for a moment, she wasn’t sure what he was looking for exactly. Maybe he wanted her to be more detailed? “I was a jedi padawan, fresh out of the temple. I didn’t have a master yet, but I was being sent out to battlefields as a sort of final test.”

“Which battlefields?”

“I saw Christophsis briefly, Pasaana for a short mission with a jedi knight meeting some Republic ally” before she could continue Drake threw up his palm to stop her.

“If you want this talk to end at some point, I’m going to need you to stop lying to me.”

“Lying?” Lorelei couldn’t help but giggle a little, even with his expression she couldn’t take Drake seriously right now “What makes you think I’m lying?”

“You say you’re a jedi.”

“I am a jedi.”

“Then why did you kill those Stormtroopers without a second thought?”

“Because they were going to kill me.”

“So you’re just okay with killing anyone who could do the same to you?”  
“Of course not, anyone could try and kill me; I was defending myself” Lorelei paused to sip her water again “just like you were.”

“I thought the jedi were peacekeepers, you could have run.”

“I’ve been running for a long time, I got sick of it; and the _jedi_ are gone.”

“Except for you right?”

“There could be more out there.”

“Do you care?”

“No, I don’t actually, do _you_?”

Drake broke his deadpan expression with a smirk. He couldn’t tell if he was making the woman genuinely upset or if she was just starting to mock him. “So why does a jedi have a sith lightsaber?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” There was another paused as Lorelei took a drink and Drake watched the woman closely “I killed the owner and stole it.”

“You don’t sound to broken up about it.”

“Well I’m not ashamed, but I’m not happy either.”

“Because she was trying to kill you.”

“Are you starting to notice the pattern yet?”

Drake scooted back on his makeshift seat and studied the woman top to bottom again. Each time he looked at her he was amazed at how someone so young could also come off as old and tired. The thing his eyes always lingered on were the scars that littered her face; each seemed like they had healed well enough but there was sill the discoloration. Her most prominent ones were on her cheek, above her eye and across the middle of her nose; with smaller ones sticking out on her lip and neck. Clearing his throat and returning to the conversation Drake got up “Did you want some more water?”

“I know where it is now, I can help myself.”

He nodded and placed everything back where he had gotten in from, Lorelei watching the entire time. Before he left, he turned back to see her pushing her own box back “I just need to know that I can trust you.”

Lorelei was surprise at this and turned to see him in the doorway, tapping his fingers against it “Like I said before, these guys are my family; I don’t want to see them get hurt.”

“I wouldn’t dream of hurting them Drake.”

He gave the door one more tap “Just cause you dream of something doesn’t make it real.” After that he left, and the door slid closed. Lorelei stood there for a little before getting herself another drink; her walk around the Ventrum hadn’t resulted in much, at least, it hadn’t resulted in what she had expected. At least now she knew where she could get a drink of water.


	2. Audience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On Mustufar, Tariss prepares to discuss the jedi attack with Darth Vader

There was a thick hang of black smoke that obscured the surface of Mustafar from any ship that arrived at the planet, it made some sort of advanced navigation system a must. Tariss’ ship was equipped with such a system, but it didn’t stop their approach from being rocky. She stood behind the pilot, gripping the leather of his seat, and watched as the black smoke slowly wiped away to reveal Mustafar. The planet was in a constant state of destruction; with plumes of fire exploding and large areas of land falling away into the oceans of white-hot lava. The only constant on the surface were the facilities once used and managed by the Separatists. Rumors had swirled as to the planet’s importance to the Empire with some saying it was the source of sith power and others just assuming it was a source of raw materials. In truth it was neither, it was simply the home of Darth Vader “On approach now” the pilot pipped up as he flipped a few switches and adjusted the shuttles direction. Tariss went to the back of the ship and prepared for landing.

Vader’s castle was as imposing and uninviting as the man himself. It stood like a shadow against the planet, a long stretching structure with one tall tower overlooking the biggest ocean on the planet. To complete the cold and horrifying look the entire building was a deep black, it almost looked like it could suck someone in if they touched the walls. A simple walkway extended out from the building and ended at a honeycomb shaped landing pad dotted with red lights. With one large bump Tariss knew they had landed and walked towards the ramp. It lowered slowly and allowed the disgusting humidity of the planet to wash over her. Even with all the technology in her suit keeping her oxygenated and cool, the heat still made her feel sluggish. Trying to remain composed Tariss stepped past the guards clad in red that greeted her at the bottom of the ramp. She continued across the walkway and into the building itself, leaving behind the heat of the planet. The interior of the castle was a sharp contrast to the planet and the exterior. Inside, everything was clean and calm; white lights ran across the roof and down the walls in lines. Black reflective tiles ordained the floor and the rest of the walls were made of black rock that appeared to have come from the planet. The largest contrast was the cool air. Before she could admire it further something beeped at her. Tariss turned to see a small black astromech droid. As soon as it had her attention it turned and went down one end of the hall; slightly confused she followed the droid till they reached a large door that slid open to reveal Vader standing in front of a large window overlooking the ocean of lava.

Tariss watched the little droid turn and roll back down the hall, leaving her alone with _him_. She had met Vader before, three times in fact, but each time they met she was struck with a sense of dread. Being around the man made her want to run and hide like one of the jedi she hunted; the only thing that kept her from doing it was the fact that he would definitely be able to find her, no matter where she hid. Reaching the middle of the room she went down on one knee and bowed her head “Lord Vader, I bring news from the planet of Simino.”

There was a long silence as she waited for a response. She could hear Vader’s equipment very faintly. She had heard the stories of what had happened to him, a horrific accident at the hands of some old long dead enemy. Something about the story never sat right with Tariss but it didn’t matter, knowledge of his life before this wouldn’t make Vader any less of a respected and powerful figure, it wouldn’t make him less frightening either. She let another few seconds pass before continuing “After viewing the bodies of the troopers, and the video footage from the base, I can confirm that it _was_ a jedi that attacked them.”

Again, the only response was silence. Tariss shifted her weight a bit, her body begging to be righted. She prepared to speak again, assuming Vader wanted everything she had before making a decision “I believe my next move should be to pursue the jedi with Ketch’s star destroyer.”

“And what does Admiral Ketch believe would be most wise?”

Tariss gripped her fist, there was no use lying to Vader “I left Ketch to conduct interviews on Simino; he agrees that we should pursue the lead, with your permission.”

“Does this mean that _you_ did not wish to receive my permission?”

“No Lord Vader I” she began to sputter as the sound of boots moved towards her.

“Do not forget your place Tariss; you may have a fleet at your command, and you may operate alone, but I am your superior.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“And Ketch is your equal, do not undermine his command.”

With a shaky breath Tariss answered “Yes my lord.”

Now casting his shadow over her Tariss could hear Vader’s breathing clearly. She cast her eyes up for a second at the black skeleton like mask then just as quickly bowed her head again. Vader seemed to have noticed her peek up at him, that or he had noticed her general body language change as he approached “Rise Tariss.”

She did so slowly, keeping her sight aimed at the floor. It wasn’t until Vader took the chin of her helmet in his hand and lifted that she looked him in the eye. Vader’s breathing couldn't be ignored now as he tilted his masked face at her own mask “I can sense your fear, and your frustration.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Is Admiral Ketch the cause of this?”

“No, my lord” she paused for a second, her head still in Vader’s grasp. She wouldn’t dare lie, but she also had to fight herself to try and give him the information “I believe this jedi is the one who killed my master.”

Vader withdrew his hand slowly and walked back to his window “Come here Tariss.”

Tariss walked slowly and stopped right next to Vader. Now close to the window she could see all the activity outside. The stretching lava wasn’t just flowing; it bubbled and spat fire. The edges of the ocean caught smoke as more and more black sand was dragged into the surf. The thing that most surprised her was a large circular island of stone in the center of the lava “When you find this jedi, bring her here, to me.”

Unable to stop herself from expressing any emotion she turned sharply to face Vader who continued to stare out the window “I will still grant you the honor of killing her, I would simply like to meet the jedi who took Murinai’s life.”

“Will you offer for her to join us?”

“Yes, I will.”

Vader turned slightly to see the woman clenching her fists. He placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her towards him “If she accepts you must control yourself, nothing is more important than the Empire.”

Tariss nodded reluctantly and prepared to turn away, but she felt Vader’s grip on her shoulder tighten and she tensed up “However, if she refuses my invitation you may kill her in any way you please.”

Tariss gave a more genuine nod at this and knelt down “It will be done my lord.”

With that Vader allowed her to rise again and she took her leave. With more haste she returned to the shuttle and set course for Ketch’s fleet. Now that she had Vader’s blessing, she could pursue the jedi to her hearts content; and she wouldn’t let anything stand in her way. Dealing with Ketch would be annoying but doable, bringing the jedi to Vader alive would be the real challenge, _if_ she managed not to kill her first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spring Break just started for me so hopefully I'll get to write a lot more. I hope everyone is still enjoying the story; I would always love some comments or questions, it's fun to see what people think.


	3. Arkesh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew of the Ventrum make their next move towards delivering Lorelei to the Rebels. First they need to make sure they can travel without fear of the Empire being right behind them and the best way to do that is to visit a little planet called Arkesh.

Zed watched as his captain flipped a few of the switches on his console, he was preparing to drop out of light speed. Looking over the coordinates on his side of the console Zed let out a high-pitched sigh. Drake’s eyes drifted over to his copilot “Something wrong bud?”

“Just didn’t know we’d be heading _here_.”

“Yeah me neither, but unless we want to travel in light speed till the ship peels apart, we’re gonna have to visit Kat.”

Zed nodded and went to work pressing buttons and flipping switches “The rest of the crew will want to know where we’re heading.”

“I know” Drake crossed his arms over his chest and thought for a second. He then scratched his brown beard and shrugged “I’ll put us in orbit and call everyone down to the loading bay.”

“You mean _everyone_ right?”

“Yes, including the girl” Drake said rolling his eyes and turning towards Zed “Don’t know why you’re stepping up for her so much.”

“I like her.”

“You like everyone you meet.”

“I don’t know, I’m still on the fence about you.”

Drake laughed and slapped at Zed’s oversized shoulder with his prosthetic arm. Soon after both of them went back to their controls, making the preparations before contacting everyone to head down to the loading bay of the Ventrum.

Drake was the last down the ladder, when he made it there, he saw that Zed had already grabbed the holoprojection table and gathered boxes for everyone to sit on. Bale was already sitting, Kara took her usual looming position, and Lorelei had taken her seat and moved it slightly out of the semi-circle “Okay, let’s get right to it” Drake said, pressing a button on the table and bringing up a local star map “Right now the Empire has no idea where we are, they may not even be pursuing us; but that doesn’t mean we’re in the clear.”

“So, what’s our next move” Lorelei said. Everyone turned to face her sheepishly looking at the group. Drake scratched at his head, struggling to find a way to explain his next move to everyone without upsetting them.

“Well we should get the identification codes for the Ventrum changed; the docking bay back on Simino may have our current ones on record” Bale said. Nods went around the room and Drake felt the pit in his stomach growing, they would put it together soon.

“The Ventrum could also use a new coat of paint, might help if they put out pictures or security footage.”

Lorelei began to lean into the group a little more “Okay, so where can we get all of that done at once?”

“Arkesh.” Every head swiveled back to the captain. He had stopped fidgeting and was standing very still, waiting for everyone’s reaction. Zed didn’t move much, looking around the room; Lorelei looked a little confused, but it wasn’t long until Kara got up and began to pace. Drake decided to try and calm her down “Listen, it’s going to be fine.” She responded with a sharp hiss from her teeth.

Lorelei shifted in her seat a little “I take it Arkesh is a rough place?” Bale nodded “Have you ever heard of Tatooine?”

Lorelei winced a little; she had never been to the sand planet, but she knew about the slavery, and the Tusken Raiders, and the Hutts. If Arkesh was even half of what Tatooine was it would be difficult to get around “Is there anywhere _else,_ we could go to get this stuff done?” 

“We’ve worked with people on Arkesh before, it’s reliable but it’s risky.” Zed said. Lorelei noticed him tapping his leg against the metal floor rapidly “How risky” Lorelei asked, not breaking eye contact with the nervous tapping.  
“Don’t answer that” Drake said pointing at the droid “We’ll be perfectly fine as long as we don’t cause a scene.”

Kara had managed to calm down and take a seat, with Bale patting her on the back. Drake went to work on the table’s keyboard again, changing the display to show Arkesh “We’ll be landing in the market district and from there we split into three groups. Bale and Kara can handle getting the Ventrum painted, Zed can visit a shop to get the serial numbers changed” Drake’s eyes drifted up to Lorelei “and you and me are going to get you a new identity.”

Lorelei cocked her head slightly and smiled “I don’t know; Wondering woman, possible sith, seems inconspicuous to me.”

“We’ll get you some armor, some weapons” he paused for a second “maybe a helmet.”

“I’m not wearing a helmet.”

Both Drake and Lorelei rose from their seats to confront one another. Kara stepped between them just as quickly “ _I’ll_ help her find a disguise, you and Bale can go pick out paints.”

Drake and Kara locked eyes for a bit. She was taller than him by just a hair but when she was mad, she knew how to stand tall. Drake threw up his hands in defeat, at least this way she wouldn’t be grimacing the entire time. With that the crew filed out of the bay and got ready, Drake went back to the cockpit and began flying towards the market, a little more confident, maybe it wouldn’t be a _complete_ disaster.

The Ventrum landed at a mostly lifeless platform; droids rolled and walked around moving boxes and handling fuel pumps. Drake was the first down in the loading bay as he waited for the rest of the crew to arrive. He hadn’t thought to change at all, but he had made sure to check his blaster and mess with his arm, just to make sure everything was ready for an emergency. Zed was the second down the ladder, he looked mostly the same except for a messenger bag slung over his large shoulder. Bale and Kara were the most drastically different; Bale had managed to get his hair in order and was now sporting a dark blue jacket over a plain black shirt, he also had one of his smaller tablets with him. Kara had dawned some sand brown gauntlets with fingerless gloves. She had also tucked her curly hair down with a bandanna and put a pair of welding goggles over it. When Lorelei came down the ladder looking mostly the same Drake gave a sigh and activated the ramp. The atmosphere of Arkesh was thick and humid. The entire planet consisted of marshland that had been wrested into a livable area. Metal buildings were built only to sink inches into the mud, bugs and small wildlife irritated the locals; it was hard to believe anyone would want to live here. That was what made it so remote; the Empire wouldn’t come because there was nothing of importance, which meant it was the perfect spot for scum and villainy.

Without a word everyone broke into their groups, with Zed accompanying the boys until he reached his destination. The girls went in the opposite direction; immediately Lorelei threw up her hood only to here Kara snickering “You don’t need that here.”

“Just trying to keep a low profile, captain’s orders and all that.”

“Listen, the more you look like you’re trying to hide the more people are going to take notice.”

Lorelei rolled her eyes slightly; she was pretty sure she knew how to hide; she still took the woman’s advice and pulled her hood back down. She followed closely as Kara skated between groups of people like she was on a path. She couldn’t tell where the girl was heading but she seemed confident. As the crowds began to thin out Lorelei moved to Kara’s side; the women were about the same height, but Kara’s short sleeves reveal muscular arms lined with scars or varying sizes. Lorelei’s eyes moved from Kara’s face to the scars, waiting for her to realize that the she was starring. After a while she finally asked, “What happened to your arms?”

There was a moment of silence where Kara seemed a bit lost in thought “What happened to your face?”

Lorelei prepared to apologize but then Kara laughed “I’m sorry, I thought you’d find that funny.”

“No, it was…a little funny.”

“Well good, does that mean you’ll answer me?” Kara finally turned to look at Lorelei and offered a smile. Lorelei returned it “I asked you first.”

Kara nodded and motioned over to a store front with a few bar stools. She whistled for the owner and sat down. Lorelei took a seat, leaving one space between them. Kara cleared her throat a little “When I was little my planet was invaded and I was taken.”

“You were kidnapped?”

“I prefer adopted; the people who took me were saving me from something much worse.”

“What?” As Lorelei asked the owner came with two bowls of noodles with steam coming off them, she didn’t notice.

“A normal life” Kara joked as she picked up her bowl and began to slurp the broth. Lorelei tried not to look perplexed by this. Kara noticed and put back down the bowl “They were people that had been hiding out in the village, from something or someone, when the invaders came they managed to save all the children; I was one of them.”

“So, you and a village’s worth of kids escaped with the help of strangers who were on the run. Where do the scars come in?”

“The people who saved us were Mandalorian.” Kara paused and looked to the ground at her foot. It had started to tap uncontrollably, even though she hated it she didn’t try to control it; it was better that her leg shake then her arms “We were allowed to stay with them along as we followed there rules and passed all their tests.”

Lorelei placed a hand on Kara’s shoulder. The calming touch made Kara’s leg stop immediately, she looked up to see an understanding smile on the jedi’s face. She laughed a little “Are you calming me down with the force?”

“No, just good old-fashioned comfort” Kara laughed again, this time with Lorelei joining her “I imagine it’s hard to tell people that.”

“Yeah; Mandalorians aren’t very popular, can’t remember a time where they’ve ever been though.”

“It seems like the ones that saved you weren’t so bad, besides the scars.”

“I don’t know” Kara flexed her arm a little, then turned it to look at the other side “I’ve had them for so long, they’re like a part of me, I like em.”

Lorelei smiled “Thank you, for sharing with me; can I ask why?”

“Well I figured you’d understand what it’s like to be afraid of who you are, what you are.” Lorelei felt her gut twist a little at this. She was no fool, the jedi had been painted as traitors and terrorist across the galaxy. She knew she would be hunted by anyone who knew, she already had been. She had never compared her situation to that of the Mandalorians though, and somehow it made her feel so much lower than she had before. Kara noticed her hand slipping and grabbed it, putting it back on her shoulder with both hands “Hey?”

Lorelei’s eyes shot back up to the woman “You still need to tell me what happened to you.” Lorelei nodded and sniffled a bit, her nose felt runny and her vision had begun to blur. Kara noticed this and pushed her food towards her “Or maybe we wait till you feel better.”

Lorelei nodded and grabbed her bowl with both hands “I appreciate it.” Then the two swiveled on their stools to face their meals and finished them in silence. Every few minutes Kara would glance over to see Lorelei pick at her food or stare deep into it, as if asking it something. This went on for half an hour; there were two times where Lorelei tried to push her food away only for Kara to joke about keeping her strength up and push it back towards her. It went like this the whole time, the watching and encouraging. Eventually both women got up and continued back into the crowds of people; they barely noticed the masked figure that had started following them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didnt get as much writing done this week off as I would have liked too, so no big back log. But I'm trying not to break the schedule. I hope you enjoyed as always


	4. Shakeups

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crews trip to Arkesh takes an explosive turn

Zed and Bale watched from a bench as Drake and a store clerk barked at each other. From where they sat it only looked like miming, but everyone once in a while someone would raise their voice loud enough for it to travel out to the street. Bale had pulled out his tablet and began swiping away at it and Zed had started to daydream and look around, he let out a groan “We should have left him on the ship.”

“You think he would have if we asked him to” Bale asked without looking up from his tablet.

“Would have been less painful to try, less painful then watching this anyway.”

“Wonder what the girls are up to.”

Zed gave a grunt and lifted himself from the bench “Something more productive I’m sure” Zed mimed a little stretch and went into his bag “I’ll be back in a second, did you find a place for us to scramble the ship id yet?”

“Bale nodded absently “Just around the corner.”

Zed walked into the store just in time to hear Drake shout “Well what’s stopping me from just taking it then?!”

“Me” Zed pushed past his captain and slapped down a handful of credits “We’ll take the midnight black and deep blue please.”

The worker, an Ithorian, gave a guttural growl and swiped the credits before heading through a door. Once he was sure the shop keep wouldn’t hear them Drake turned to the droid “Was that really necessary?”

“We’re kind of on the clock, remember?”

“Getting robbed on _paint_ is not on the clock” he grumbled.

The worker came back with two large rectangular crates and gave another grunt. Zed took them and thanked the worker before leaving. Drake glared at the alien before following the droid out. The area outside of the shop wasn’t very populated. Bale had walked over to meet the others “We got the paint?”

“Yep, now I’m going to go get the ship clean while you guys start painting” Zed shoved the crates into Drake’s chest and began walking away “Have fun.”

Drake rolled his eyes and started back to the hanger “I hate Arkesh.”

As he and Bale lost sight of the paint shop there was a low rumble. A wave of confusion rushed over the crowd, then someone spotted a plume of smoke rising from the distance. Bale and Drake looked at the smoke as if it were a nightmare “Hey Drake, you don’t think that has anything to do with us, do you?”

Before he could answer their communicators began to beep, Drake answered and heard a mix of screams followed by Kara shouting something. The call fizzled out before he could make sense of what he was saying “We need to get over there.”

**. . .**

Lorelei let out a low groan and tried to lift herself off the ground. She didn’t remember falling but as she slowly regained consciousness, she noticed how warm it was and how the light around seemed to flicker; it was fire, she was surrounded by fire. Lorelei felt panic slowly building up inside her; she still wasn’t sure how she got there and now she was realizing that she didn’t know where Kara was either. She began to rise a little faster only to bump up against a metal beam. Rubbing her head, she looked up to see the beam along with some other debris. Beyond the fire and the rubble, she could see the murky sky. With a nod Lorelei tried to pull herself from under what was pinning her, only to find her leg stuck between more debris “Damnit” she growled. Her options were running out; she wanted avoid using the force to escape, as she looked at her leg to see if she could twist it and get it free there was a rumble that caused some rubble and dust to fall on her. There was no way of telling how much time he had before the rest of the structure fell on her but if she sued her powers someone could see her, and the trip would have been for nothing. As Lorelei turned her attention back to her foot a figure stepped by her. Not seeing the face Lorelei called out in a strained voice “Hello, over here!”

The footsteps stopped just out of sight and reversed. Lorelei caught sight of the unfamiliar boots; they were black with silver metal plating on the legs and the toes. The figure crouched down and offered a gloved hand of similar color “Can you reach my arm” the figure asked, a slight robotic sound to their voice. Lorelei responded by reaching out and groaning slightly. The stranger met her the rest of the way, straining to grab her hand and then pulling only for Lorelei to hiss and look back at foot “I’m stuck on something under here” she hollered. The hand came away and the figure crouched down; they were wearing a helmet; it seemed mostly handmade but parts like the visor and small antenna looked like clone trooper armor. The figure looked to Lorelei then to the debris “I’ll see what I can do, what’s your name?”

“Lorelei” she said, slightly surprised.

“Okay Lorelei, I’m Jace; just hold on a little longer” the masked figure lifted their gauntlet and cocked it before aiming at the rubble. Before they could fire another stranger ran and tackled him away. Lorelei panicked slightly as she heard a squabble begin; Lorelei struggled once more against the rubble until the pain caused her to stop “Jace, are you still there?!” There was no response. Over the crinkling fire and the sounds of more collapse Lorelei couldn’t hear the fighting anymore. Unsure of what was happening Lorelei weighed her options as the sounds of rumbling and crumbling seemed to grow louder “Screw it” Lorelei turned her attention to the rubble around her leg and began to focus.

Just a few steps from the rubble where he had been earlier Jace was lying on his back trying his best to fend off his attacker, it was another masked figure; not dressed in makeshift metal but in wrappings and leather armor. They swung blindly at Jace as he tried to protect his face and wait for an opening. The stirring of the rubble where Lorelei had been distracted him for a moment, but the attacker was able to land a solid swing across his helmet, knocking bits of armor off. In a blur Jace grabbed at their arm and threw his head forward, headbutting them. There was a low groan as the attacker gripped at their face and Jace scrambled to get to his feet. The shifting of the pile above Lorelei had not stopped so in a daze Jace pushed himself up and tried to run back over, only for something to grab his leg and send him back down onto the ground. Again, a daze washed over Jace as he tried to get up only for the second person to grab him from behind and try to push him back down into the concrete; Jace braced himself and threw and elbow back blindly. The attacker grunted and Jace turned to grab at their neck. The attacker responded with a similar move and the two began to grapple and roll around. Jace finally pinned the opponent and prepared to wail on him, then he noticed the rocks beginning to float. His eyes glanced back over to where Lorelei should be pinned and saw her, free from the rubble that was now hovering above her. Jace was speechless, the girl was a jedi; then another dizzying punch sent him off his balance to the floor.

Lorelei saw the wicked punch and reacted, she threw out her hand and sent the attacker flying into a thick plume of smoke and fire. Once she was sure he was gone Lorelei ran over to help Jace “Hey, are you alright?”

“Yeah” he sputtered “Thought I was the one that was supposed to be saving you.”

“Don’t mention it” Lorelei paused and let go of Jace, stepping away “and don’t mention the _other_ thing you may have seen?”

Jace stuttered a bit, unable to answer properly. Before either of them could break the awkward silence there was another large rumble and a large piece of rock fell “We have to get out of here, the whole block is coming down” Jace said, he grabbed Lorelei’s hand and started to run. Lorelei didn’t resist at first, then noticed the remains of the shop she and Kara had been eating at “Wait, my friend!”

“What?” Jace stopped and looked over at where Lorelei’s eyes were locked “Oh the girl, some friends of mine already got her out.” She didn’t seem to register what he said, “Lorelei your friend is safe, but we won’t be if we don’t move _right now_.”

She nodded but didn’t take her eyes off the shop as she and Jace slowly moved away from the destruction. As they cleared the area Drake and Bale arrived, out of breath. Bale took a second to look around, but Drake immediately ran around, picking away at rubble and screaming “Kara!?” he winced and pulled away when a flame licked at his hand. Bale sighed and pulled out his tablet “Drake calm down, let me do a scan of the area.”

“Yeah, yeah good idea” Drake pointed in Bales direction but continued to scan the area for any sign of the girls “I’ll keep looking though and try and contact them.”

Bale moved around the area, passing a few dead bodies and grimacing. As they moved around Drake heard a small whimper and immediately ran over “Bale, over here!” Bale put his tablet away and ran over to see his captain pulling someone away from a wicked blaze, they were covered in rapping and leather armor “They’re breathing but they’re hurt.”

Bale nodded and looked around, if anyone else was around they may already be dead “We should get them back to the Ventrum.”


	5. Getting Acquainted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Onboard the Ventrum Drake and the rest of the crew officially meet their new visitor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry for the small gap in uploads, online classes have just been taking most of my time at the moment. Also I'll be taking a small break just to make sure I can keep writing at a good pace and I'm not rushing to complete a chapter for the next upload; so hears two chapters instead of one. Hope everyone is safe and that you enjoy.

Onboard the ship Drake sat in his seat restlessly. It had been about three hours since the explosion in the shopping district. There was still no word from Kara or Lorelei, and the person he and Bale had found in the blast zone was till lying unconscious in the loading bay under Zed’s supervision. He tried desperately not to let his mind slip into fantasies of Kara’s motionless body, or Lorelei’s face plastered on screens and bounty boards; but the harder he pushed down the images the quicker they seemed to rush over him. With a grunt he wiped his tired eyes and left the bridge, he thought talking to the others could distract him, at least for a moment. As he walked down the halls, he couldn’t help but pause at Zed’s room, where he and the jedi had spoken. Drake grimaced and forced himself to the end of the hall and then down the ladder. Zed looked up as if to greet him but quickly moved his view back to the body “He’s still out” Zed said motioning over. Drake nodded and went to sit on some boxes against the wall of the ship “You want to try waking him up again” he asked rubbing his eyes.

“Maybe let them rest, waking them up in a panic isn’t going to help us get anything out of em.” Drake nodded again but he began to tap his foot in frustration. He didn’t like this at all; he didn’t like the idea of Kara being who knows where, she was part of the crew and he wanted to take care of his crew. He didn’t like the idea that Lorelei might be found out or, worse, give herself away in some squabble or act of good. He prayed she’d restrain herself from heroics, or that Kara would stop her. As Drake continued to tap his foot the mumbling of the unconscious stranger made his ears perk up. Drake got up and locked eyes with Zed who seemed to think the same thing. Zed was closer so he began to help the stranger up “Easy does it, take your time” the stranger accepted Zed’s help at first, then they opened their eyes and saw the large droid staring at them. With a slight yelp the stranger leapt from the makeshift bed and backed away from the droid. Drake rushed forward “Hey, it’s okay, calm down.”  
“Are you Empire?” The voice was shaky and young, Drake wouldn’t have guessed. He shook his head and tried to answer as calmly as he could “No we’re not Empire, he’s just made of spare parts” behind him Zed shook his head a little “he’s a friend, _we’re_ friends.” The stranger looked around thee loading bay “Where am I, are we still in the market?”

“No, the market is kinda vaporized, we’re on my ship at a docking platform near the market though.”

“You saved me?”

“We were looking for our friends, maybe you saw them?”

“I don’t know” the stranger shook their head “I don’t remember anything, I got to the market and I set up the bomb and then” Zed stood up suddenly startling the stranger. He walked over, the stomp of his robotic feet echoing “ _You_ set up the bomb?”

“I did, it was just...I was following orders.” Zed lifted the stranger into the air effortlessly. Drake turned to his friend in surprise “Hey Zed calm down!”

“This guy blew up the market, for all we know he got Kara killed.” The anger in his voice scared Drake, he hadn’t seen it before, not like this; but the guy being held in the air was much more frightened. He began to shake and fight against Zed to no avail “Please let me go, I wasn’t trying to kill your friends, just the bounty hunters!”

“Zed put him down, he’s just a kid; let’s hear what he has to say first!” Zed didn’t budge. Drake shook his head “Zed I’m telling you, _put him down!_ ” There was slight twitch in the robot’s arm but after a moment he lowered the boy and stepped away without a word. Drake stepped up and tried to comfort the kid only to have him flinch away. Drake backed up and said “Okay, I’m sorry about that.”

The kid slowly removed the mask from his face and took a few shaky breaths. He was pasty with flattened brown hair; it seemed wet from sweat. Drake winced a bit at the bruises and cuts on his face, he had been a very recent fist fight. “I don’t know anything about your friends, I’m sorry if they are dead.”

Drake nodded in acknowledgment, but he refused to entertain the idea, he tried his best to think of something else to think about “So why’s a kid blowing things up?”

“Are you serious?” the kid seemed to have calmed down a little, and now he was getting sassy “We’re at _war_.”

“By ‘we’ you mean who exactly?”

“The people of Arkesh, and those damn bounty hunters.”

“Bounty hunters?”

The kid laughed a little and hung his head “Off-worlders” he murmured “They were hired by some Hutt trying to take over the planet, after we refused to just give it to him.”

“I’m guessing you don’t mean the literal you?”

“Alright I get it, I’m a little young” Drake chuckled a little “ _but_ we don’t exactly have an army of people to fight, so here I am.” The kid went to sit down again and began to mess with his hair. Drake gave him one more look before heading for the ladder “Well you get some rest little freedom fighter, if you get hungry or anything just holler.”

“Well what if I want to go home?”

“Then you better be ready to take us with you” Drake said looking over his shoulder.


	6. Waking Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somewhere on Arkesh Kara awakens in a jail cell

Kara gave another hardy tug at the metal bars and growled as they refused to budge. With a puff she let go of them and paced around her small cell again; it had to have been an hour since she awoke in the small room. She had already investigated the space to the fullest, it was a cave with makeshift holding cells. Areas of the walls had been mined out and large metal pillars were installed closed together, she wouldn’t be able to squeeze through. As Kara continued to pace her mind wandered to Lorelei, wherever she might be, as well as the rest of the team; she winced slightly and her hand shot to cradle her throbbing head. When she had awoken the only other thing there to great her were the scrapes and cuts, and the headache. From what she could remember, she and Lorelei had been walking; they had cleared the shop after finishing their food, Lorelei had said something, but Kara couldn’t remember, then there was loud noise and a hot feeling. Everything else was fuzzy, untrustworthy, so she ignored it. Unable to try anything else Kara picked a comfortable looking section of dirt and sat down. More then anything she wanted to shut her eyes and rest, she could feel her body screaming for it; but she wouldn’t give in, not until she had a better idea of where she was and what had happened. A few more moments passed before she heard the sound of a door opening, it was mechanical, automatic. She rushed to the bars and gripped at them waiting to see who was coming, she prepared to come face to face with some snarling monster, or a masked villain. She heard two sets of footsteps approaching, her grip tightened around the bars “Kara?” The voice was familiar, her grip broke.

“Lorelei?!” The smiling face of the jedi rounded the corner and she broke into a sprint “Thank goodness you’re okay.”

“Yeah, I’m fine, how are you?” she sputtered a little bit “How are you not in here with me?” Other then a few scrapes she looked fine.

“Oh right, Jace got me out; some of his friends picked you up, must of thought you were dangerous.” Lorelei tried to stifle a small laugh. Kara’s eyes shot past her to the other person coming into view, _this_ one was wearing the mask she was expecting.

“Well were they wrong” he asked, a chipper voice with a hint of radio chatter over it.

“Kara this is Jace, he saved me from the explosion.”

“Don’t forget the attacker” he gave her a small nudge with his shoulder. Kara’s eyes darted between the two in disbelief. They looked so friendly, like they had known each other for years rather than a handful of hours.

“Wait, so there _was_ an explosion.”

“Yeah” Jace’s voice dropped a little, so did his shoulders. He began to pace behind Lorelei “Came out of known here, luckily me and a few friends were nearby.” Again, the chipper tone returned to the man’s voice.

“And who are you and your friends exactly?”

“I’m sure there are a million names you could give us, but to keep it simple; we’re bounty hunters.” Kara felt her body try to lurch backwards away from the man, she had to fight it with all her strength “Yeah, kind of rag tag, not use to working together completely yet but we’re getting by.”

“What are a team of bounty hunters doing on Arkesh?”  
“It’s a little complicated.” he laughed slightly “Basically we were hired to take care of some local terrorists; they’ve been shaking down locals and blowing up businesses, classic evil stuff.”

“One of them attacked Jace while he was trying to save me, they had their face covered though.”

“Yeah the cowards, too scared to show their face but they’ll take an innocent life no problem.”

“Should you really be saying that?” Jace’s visor shot over to a very grumpy Kara. He laughed a little again, realizing what was going on.

“Obviously you’ve got some _experience_ with bounty hunters under your belt.”

“You could say that.”

“Well please accept my sincerest apologies, and the promise that not all bounty hunters will try to do whatever it is they did to you.”

“I find that hard to believe.” As the two had spoken back and forth Jace and stepped closer to the cage. Once she had finished, he tilted his head and chucked again before producing a small remote with a single button on it. With a press the metal pillars slid down into the floor and Kara was free. Jace turned and stepped away as Kara stepped out cautiously.

“I need the mask to breath by the way” he gave the dome of it a few knocks “Once you guys have talked, or whatever, you should grab some food with the rest of us.”

With that Jace left. Kara didn’t take another step before she heard the sound of the automatic door opening and closing again. Immediately she rushed to grab Lorelei by the arm and began observing every corner of the room, it was mostly featureless; hell, it could have just been a larger cell. It wasn’t until Lorelei pulled away from her that Kara realized she had been talking to her “What” she barked at the jedi.

“What the hell is wrong with you, that man saved us.”

“And who knows what he’s going to do with us now.” She went back to scouting and forced Lorelei to follow behind her in a bit of huff.

“Nothing, Jace is trustworthy.”

“Really, because he saved your life?”

“Because he knows _what_ I am” Kara stopped her search of the room and turned back to Lorelei “I had to use the force to free myself from some rubble, I saved his life too; he saw all of it; I asked him not to say anything and so far he hasn’t.”

“That doesn’t mean we can trust him; he could just be playing a long game.”

“Fine, don’t; but trust me Kara” she laughed a little with her back turned to Lorelei “I can tell he’s good.”

“How?”

“Because look at my face!” Kara grimaced at this and turned around. The jedi was doing her best to stair her down “I’ve learned who I can and can’t trust, the hard way sometimes.”

Fine, that’s fair.” Kara exhaled and scratched at her hair “So what do you suggest we do?”

“Figure out where we are, ask for help, maybe help a little ourselves?”

“You really want to get involved in a civil war?”

“I want us to get out of here before the Empire shows up, we can’t exactly wipe ourselves from their radar now; maybe Jace and his friends can help us.”

Kara began to twitch her fingers and think. With what had happened back at the shops they _would_ be closed for a while, and they wouldn’t be able to access them. Knowing bounty hunters, they could definitely fudge with Imperial records and get them some form of safety for the journey. Kara grumbled a bit “Was that a noise of agreement” Lorelei asked, putting on a foe sheepish voice.

It was a noise of hunger, let’s go eat.” With that the two girls left the room and went off to meet Jace and the rest of the bounty hunters. As they left the holding room Kara was surprised by how built up the base was. Much like the cell she had woken up in, most of the base was made up of light orange rock but there were metal panels for floors, support beams, lights; all with a chrome color scheme. Something like this would take months to build, she wondered how long it had been here, how long the bounty hunters had been fighting these terrorists. Lorelei took the lead, tracing the steps she had taken with Jace until she reached a fork. Lorelei studied the signs for a second before Kara pointed down the left path “Food’s is that way.”

“You can read that?”

“Yeah, I can read a couple languages, this is just really messy Mandalorian.”

“You think there are any Mandalorians here?”

“Their armor and weapons maybe, bounty hunters adopted a lot of the things from the culture, including the language.”

“I can understand using the equipment, hell there were reports of hunters in the war that did; but the language?”

“Not everyone can read it, so it makes for a good secret system of communication; right under everyone’s nose.” As they finished talking Kara and Lorelei found themselves in a large cafeteria. There were chrome benches, the smells of food being cooked off in the corner, and a large chrome throne at the back of the room. Kara gave it another look before someone broke her attention “Hey, you made it!”

Jace ran over with two plates “I was about to come get you.”

“Well we decided we wanted to see where we were being held captive.”

You’re not captives” he gave a big positive shrug of his arms “You’re guests!”

“I’ll take your word for it” Kara said, grabbing a plate and going to sit at an empty table. Lorelei took the other and followed Kara with Jace close behind. They began eating in silence, the sounds of the cafeteria were normal; there were spats of chatter in between the clattering of cutlery and smacking mouths. Between bites of food Kara would try to sneak looks at the other people in the room. There seemed to be a trend, lots of exposed skin, thrown together armor, lots of weapons that looked like they were held together by scrap and wrappings; she gave a small smirk thinking about how much she could fit in. The only person that stuck out from the rest of the crowd was the slender female figure sitting in the center of the room on a simple looking chair. It looked like it had been plucked from some sort of throne room and repurposed into a chrome throne. The girl in it was clad head to toe in black armor with red war paint; the thing that really caught Kara’s eye was the Mandalorian helmet she wore. Like the rest of her gear it had a red and black color scheme, it had been modified so that the glass also had a tint of red and etchings lined the dome; if she _was_ Mandalorian she was a rebel. Between bites Jace watched the girls; Lorelei seemed to just be enjoying the food, but Kara had slowly stopped eating and begun exclusively staring around the room “You someone you know out there?”

“Who’s on the throne?”

“What?” She answered so quickly it took him aback, maybe she had been anticipating a question from him. He looked around and his eyes fell on the same woman. With a laugh and a slight sigh, he responded “That’s just the boss, Erran.”

“So, you guys have a leader?” Lorelei said, the words struggling their way around her food and out of her mouth.

“Every army needs one; she was the person who got called onto the job first, slowly she started calling the rest of us in.” Jace took another bite “She’s pretty cool, doesn’t talk much.”

“Does she know about us” Kara asked in a low tone.

“I mean she knows we saved some people; I didn’t exactly give her vivid details though.”

“Hiding things from your boss? Maybe we can trust you.” Jace turned back to Kara only to find her smiling back at him. Lorelei began to laugh, and Kara joined in; for a moment Jace resisted the urge to join in but just as quickly he began to laugh as well. It felt as if a heavy cloud was slowly rolling away from the table, Kara didn’t want to admit it, but Lorelei might have been right about the guy.

“Jace, are these the survivors from the attack at the markets?” The voice was foreign to both girls. There was the same hint of helmet modulation that Jace had. He rose to his feet immediately and stood at a strange attention. He gave a slight nod “Well bring them over here, I’d like to meet them.” The second bit of speech confirmed it, the voice that had interrupted their little moment was the boss, Erran. At once Jace motioned for them to follow; even though his face was covered Lorelei could sense a shift in his emotions and Kara could see it in the way he moved, he was scared. Almost at the foot of the throne all three of them stopped, looking up at the woman who was just a bit too small for her chair “Why are you on Arkesh?”

“Just doing some shopping, preparing for a long trek.” Lorelei nodded in response to Kara, it was probably best she do the talking.

“And you’re traveling together, just the two of you?”

“Us and two others.” Kara thought it best not to mention the droid, lying about actions was one thing but making Zed out to be an astromech instead of a killer robot companion would be harder fake. 

“Bring me the landing bay logs for the last few days.” Erran seemed to speak around the girls. Behind them the sounds of a few sets of boots shuffled up from their seats and out of the room. Erran looked back down at them both “I’m guessing you were unaware of the war.”

“We had no idea; it’s been a long time since we visited.”

“You should have stayed away longer” she grunted, lifting herself from the seat. A small bit of cloth unfurled behind her as she rose, it looked like half a cape. The bottom was torn and burnt black. She took a few small steps down toward the girls and got on one knee. She started with Lorelei, tilting her covered head this way and that observing her scars and clothing “You look like you’ve got some stories to tell.” With lightning speed, she took Lorelei’s face in her hands, griping her by the chin and turning the jedi’s face. Kara resisted the urge to reach out and rip Erran away. A few mumbles escaped Erran’s lips and she focused on the scarring on Lorelei’s face “Some of these look like laser graze but some of them” the feeling began to grow in Kara’s chest “I don’t have any idea what could have caused this.” Finally, the emotion came spilling out of Kara and she went for Errans hand before she could twist Lorelei’s face again. Erran used her speed again to grab Kara’s arm before it landed on her own. Slowly she turned to face Kara and laughed a little “You’re a tough one.”

“Just a fan of personal space” Kara growled, freeing herself from Erran’s grasp. Almost immediately Erran’s focus fell to the scars all over the arms of the woman “Well aren’t you a canvas.” Again, Erran shot out her hand and took Kara’s arm, again she felt the urge to react, but she fought it back, unsure of how the boss would react to another reaction. Erran ran her hand up and down the scars like she had discovered treasure “ _These_ I recognize” she whispered.

“You’re a Mandalorian?”

“Only as much as you are” she joked, giving Kara back her arm “I _used_ to be, but they aren’t the most popular crowd.”

“Neither are bounty hunters” Lorelei grumbled, rubbing her face slowly.

“You’d be surprised girl” Erran got up and returned to her seat “It pays better at the very least.”

“Good to know.” Kara rose to her feet and helped Lorelei up with one hand.

“You don’t seem like trouble, so how about I make you a deal?”

“What kind of deal?”

“I just feel bad, you poor civilians shouldn’t have gotten caught up in all this.”

“What kind of deal?” Kara asked, with a bit more bite. Erran giggled a little and pointed at Kara, as if to say she liked her.

“If _you_ help us without little pest problem, we’ll help you get supplies for you trip.”

“You want us to join you war?!”

“Well with you two I doubt it’ll be that much of a fight.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do, you didn’t get all those scars from going on _treks_ ” Kara rubbed at her arms “I don’t care what you did but you’ve seen battle, a hell of a lot at that.” With a bit more animation Erran began to speak to the two women “We are _this_ close to finally getting rid of these mud people and finishing this job; you guys are an answered prayer.”

“So, we help you, and the fighting stops, no more markets getting blown up.” Kara wanted to hiss at Lorelei. Of course, the jedi couldn’t resist helping the helpless and ending a conflict.

“No more innocent people, or travelers, getting hurt either.” Erran said, also picking up on the younger girls want to help. She wasn’t sure what or who she was but they way she dressed, the way she acted, the scars, the story Jace had told about her fighting off someone after being pinned under flaming rubble; the girl was like a beast in the most convincing little lost creature get up ever.

“We want our stuff back, all of it” Kara had taken a full step in front of Lorelei before she could respond “and we’ll need some privacy, time to talk and think.”

“Fine” Erran said with a wave of her hand “But don’t take too long, my patience _will_ run out, and faster than you know it.”

Kara nodded and turned to walk away. Behind her Jace and Erran exchanged some words before he ran to catch up to the two of them “Come on, I’ll show you to a place you can use.” He still seemed worried, and a little frantic “Did you _have_ to agitate her?”

“She shouldn’t have grabbed Lorelei.”


	7. Perspective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew of the Ventrum meet the rebels of Arkesh and strike up a deal to try and get Lorelei and Kara back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long time away, here's 2 more chapters. Wanna keep the start note brief

Bale checked the ship systems again in vain, looking for discrepancy, something to distract him from everything that was going on. Unfortunately, the ship was in fine condition; anything he tried to mess with would probably just result in an actual problem he’d have to fix. Bale looked up with a dejected sigh for something to distract him; Drake had all but barricaded himself in the ship’s bridge and Zed hadn’t come out of his quarters since the little kid had woken up. Bale had toyed around with the idea of going to talk with him but they didn’t really have anything to talk about; all he really cared about was getting the others back, and the boy wouldn’t know anything about that “Hello?” Bale turned to see the kid standing nervously in the doorway to Bale’s room.

“Oh hey, you’re the little rebel boy.”

“My name’s Vance” he grumbled.

“Right, uhm, was there something you needed?”

“I dunno, can you get me off this ship?”

“That’s funny.” Bale waited to see if he would start laughing or flash a smile, but he watched the boy’s shoulders drop a little “Oh, you’re being serious.”

“I _need_ to get back to my people, there’s no way they heard about what happened at the shops.”

“What happened at the shops exactly?” Despite Bale helping to pull the kid free from the rubble he hadn’t been able to get anything else. It was as if everyone had gone underground.

“You saw, didn’t you?”

“I saw a lot of fire and rubble, but I want to know what actually happened.” The kid groaned. Bale watched him fidget with his collar in annoyance and shuffle back and forth on his feet “Listen if you wanna take a seat you can.”

“What’s the point, you and the other one won’t listen to me and the robot wants to kill me; I’d be better off with bounty hunters.” Something about that made Bale’s ears perk up. He had managed to catch some of the conversation between Vance and Drake but from what was said the idea of the bounty hunters taking prisoners was out of the question; but if there was a chance they did there was also a chance they had Lorelei _and_ Kara “We haven’t really gotten to talk, maybe I’ll listen.”

“You must think I’m really stupid” the kid turned as if prepared to leave “You guys don’t wanna listen to anything I have to say.”

“That’s only because you’re not saying the right stuff.” The kid turned back, puzzled. Again, Bale offered him a seat. Vance’s eyes darted from the empty chair and back to Bale few times before accepting it begrudgingly. Bale took another seat and sat opposite him “You mentioned earlier that you’d rather be a prisoner of the bounty hunters, do they take prisoners?” 

“Well, there were reports here and there but that’s all” Vance noticed something change in Bale’s face, a twinge of sadness “but there’s defiantly a chance, yes.”

“Okay; now if we were to help your people could you help us rescue our friends?”

“That’s a big ask.” Vance’s head began to rush with thoughts of how that conversation would go; all the people he’d have to talk to, and the people he’d shout back at him. Just as quickly however, the thought of Bale dismissing him back to the Ventrum’s empty hall took over, he grimaced a bit and finished his sentence “But if you help us out, _really_ help us, I could make it happen.”

“Really?” Bale almost jumped out of his chair. He could hug the kid; he hadn’t given him much, but it was better then what they had earlier when they were surrounded by flaming remains. The next step was to get the guys on board but Bale was already pretty sure he’d be able to convince them if he put the right spin on all of this “Alright, thank you Vance, I need to talk to the others.” He began to make for the door before stopping in the same spot that the boy had been glued to, he turned back to see Vance looking at the floor “You wait here okay?”

“Like I have a choice” he grumbled. Bale wanted to comfort the boy in some way but then he looked up from the floor and offered a little smile. Bale gave one back and continued out of his quarters. He prayed Drake and Zed would be in a listening mood.

**. . .**

“You’re joking right?” Bale had tried his best to repeat everything he and Vance had said to each other. Drake had spent the whole time pacing around while Zed tried his best to look busy. He was at least happy to see his captain was listening, even if his response was less then warm.

“Drake, this is our chance to get Kara and Lorelei.”

“That’s assuming the kid didn’t lie to you, and that he’s even who he says he is.”

“Why would he lie?”

“I don’t know Bale, maybe because he’s in a strange new place surrounded by strange new people” Drake tossed a small wrench across the room at Zed’s back “Not to mention droids who try to strangle the life out of him!”

“I said sorry, can we drop it; please?” Zed didn’t turn to face Bale or Drake as he spoke.

“Good point, we’ve got more important things to worry about right now; like our missing crew.”

“Vance could help us with that.”

“His name is Vance” Zed asked, again, not turning to face his friends.

“Listen, guys” Bale took a breath “Right now we still need to wipe the ship and get moving, and we can’t do that without Kara; or the person we’re supposed to be escorting.”

“Alright” Drake turned to face Bale and rubbed the brim of his nose “Let’s say we take little Vance up on his offer, then what?”

“We take him back to his friends, we find out what we can, help where we can.”

“So, we’re going to fight with them, not sure how that helps the low profile thing Bale.” Zed had finally turned to join the circle.

“We’ll just be fighting bounty hunters, no Empire, no Stormtroopers.”

“Well how many bounty hunters are there, how many men does the kid’s side have?” Again, Bale could feel Drake getting more frustrated, he was losing the captain.

“I could tell you that, if you let me in on whatever this is.” All three heads swiveled to Vance, laying against the entrance.

“I told you to wait in the room.”

“What’s the use of a secret meeting when I can hear you all shouting through the walls?” At this Bale felt himself begin to blush a bit. He turned and walked away.

“Hey kid?” Vance turned to the familiar voice of the tall droid “I’m sorry about earlier, how’s your neck?”

“Tender” he growled. Zed lowered his head a bit and nodded as if he had expected an angry response “but it could be worse” he mumbled a little quieter. Zed acknowledged this with a nod but did not raise his head.

“Vance, is what you told Bale true?” The boy was surprised to how quickly Drake had closed the distance between them, the look on his eyes was soft but serious; he was trying to treat Vance like an equal rather than a kid.

“Yeah, we’ve had scouts figuring out where the bounty hunters are for weeks: we just haven’t had enough strength to attack.”

“I’m not exactly a numbers bot but I don’t think three of us will make much of a difference against a small army of bounty hunters.”

“Well it isn’t just three of you; there’s this ship, and your other crew, right?”

“The other crew who are _captured_?” Drake folded his arms and watched as Vance took his turn floundering to convince everyone.

“The attack on their base can happen at the same time that you get them out, then you all join us on the battlefield.”

“That’s quite the plan Vance, especially since it’s all off the cuff.”

“What?”

“You told Bale you could get us help if we helped you, but can you actually do that?”

“Is this another thing about me being a kid?”

“Someone’s learning” Drake said before leaning in to mess the kid’s hair. Vance shot away immediately and growled.

“For the last time I’m a solider, and one of our leaders happens to be my Aunt; I can deliver on my promise.”

“Well why didn’t Bale mention that part?”

“Because I didn’t _tell him that part_ ” Vance said through gritted teeth. At this point he felt like he was talking in circles. Whatever Drake was trying to prove, it didn’t matter, he just wanted to get back home; he _needed_ to get back home.

“So, you’re withholding info from us, kinda sneaky.”

“I wasn’t sure you’d believe me if I told you.”

“Well _now_ I don’t.”

“Drake” the kids tone startled the captain ever so slightly “Do you want to see your friends again or not?”

“Don’t tell me, the bounty hunters sent out a message; they’ll be executed tomorrow morning.”

“Stop messing around!”

“Well stop implying that my friends are gonna die.” This time it was Vance who was taken back by the captain’s tone. He didn’t raise his voice when he spoke, or even move any closer to Vance; but something in his eyes changed and immediately it felt like was getting scolded, not conversing with someone “I’m trying to treat you like an adult, since that seems to be what you want; but I’m not gonna sit here and play games with.”

“Fine” Vance threw up his hands “I can lead you to the base, I can get you face to face with the leaders but that’s about it.”

“What about the helping us part of your deal?”

“I can’t actually guarantee anything; it’s possible they’ll agree to help you but you’ll have to help them too.” Vance shrugged his shoulders “It won’t be enough bringing home some random solider.” Drake watched the kid begin to walk past Zed out of the room. For half a second, he wondered if this was some sort of act, to soften him up.

“Screw it” he said. Act or not they had spent long enough on the Ventrum figuring out what to do; this was the best option that had been presented to them, not to mention the only option “Give us the location of the base and way to contact them, we’ll take the Ventrum over.”

“Alright; and thanks Drake, I mean it.”

“I’d hope you do.” He shooed the kid aside as he made for the loading bay. If he and the crew were going to fight bounty hunters, he had to make sure they were well armed.

The flight to the base was short and quiet. Every once in a while, Vance would call for Zed and Drake to make a small adjustment, and once they reached what must have been the perimeter, they received a signal. Vance answered promptly and they were instructed on where to land. Once they did Drake was surprised to see several armed men approaching the ramp. They all matched Vance in terms of attire, but it was obvious these were adults. Vance tried his best to vouch for the crew but after a while Drake told the kid to drop it and they went through every check. Finally, Drake was ushered into a small room in a mud hut, inside were three people “So, I hear you found my nephew.”

“Yeah, something like that.” The one in the middle was a woman with streaks of gray of in her hair. Her face betrayed her hair color though, she couldn’t have been more than thirty, hell, she and Vance could have been siblings. The other two people were more hidden by the shadows of the room. From what he could see one sported a beard and a shaved head while the other was a blue Twi’ lek male.

“You also said you’re from off world?” The Twi’lek spoke in a low gravely tone.

“Yes sir, just passing through.”

“Well you picked of a hell spot to stop” the bearded man laughed. He seemed friendlier than the others; Drake offered a small chuckle at his comment.

“We didn’t know about the war going on.”

“War” the Twi’lek mumbled “It would have to be a _fair_ fight for it to be considered a war wouldn’t it.”

“I wouldn’t know sir, not exactly a warrior.” Drake flashed a large smile, trying to be genuine but serious.  
“Your ship and crew say otherwise.” The woman produced a tablet from under a small desk and walked forward with it. Drake took it carefully and looked down to see pictures of his ship and his friends, there were even photos from when they were in the market. Noticing his surprise, the woman smiled “We may be on the losing side, but we’re not completely helpless.”

“I’d expect nothing less from someone fighting for their home.” Drake quickly handed back the tablet, trying to maintain composure.

“What someone who’s not a warrior know of fighting for his home?”

“Well just because I’m not a warrior doesn’t mean I haven’t seen a few wars.”

“Are you a bounty hunter too Mr. Drake?”

“No, I just take jobs for money.” The two of them shared a smile before she turned and returned to her spot next to the others.

“Well there’s no money here, but we do trade in favors.”

“I figured; My crew and I are ready to fight with you _if_ you can help us save our captured comrades.”

“ _We’ll_ be setting the rules of our agreement outsider, not you.”

“Now now Bosan” the woman raised a hand as she stopped the Twi’lek’s growling “This man has brought back one of our own, the least we can do is let him set his own terms.” The man snorted in response, but he did not protest. The woman signaled for Drake to continue. 

“You give us everything you have on these guys and we can put together a plan of attack; it’ll be sloppy, people might die, but like I already said, we _will_ fight with you; I promise.”

“Not the best of terms.” The bearded man hummed as he played with his facial hair.

“No, but something tells me our hired warrior here won’t budge on them.” Drake smiled in response to the woman and gave a little bow, jokingly.

“I’ll be on my ship awaiting your intel ma’am.” With that Drake turned to leave. Back on the Ventrum Zed and Bale rushed to ask as many questions as they could. Drake waved them away and explained the deal they had struck.

“So now what, we just sit on our hands here” Zed asked.

“Yep” Drake said hopping onto one of the containers in the loading bay “That, and get ready for a war.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I am not dead, just lazy and forgetful. Honestly between Summer classes and deciding I wanted to learn to video edit my time for hobbies has quickly gone from fine to not fine, but still doable; it's kinda fun having so many things that I wanna do that are not work. Don't have much else to say besides I'm glad I'm back and I hope everyone is doing good still and enjoy


	8. Hospitality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Lorelei have another meeting with the leader of the bounty hunter army

The room Jace had escorted Kara and Lorelei to was spacious. It lacked windows but there were metal lockers lining the walls and benches in the middle. At first Kara had scoffed at the place, thinking they had just been thrown into some storage room, but the lockers had their advantages. For one thing they were unlocked, and she had been using their time alone to go through them. Unfortunately, the only people without lockers in the room were the two she wanted to know about most, Jace and Erran. As she cracked open her thirteenth locker, she heard an annoyed groan “Kara, please stop.”

“Why?”

“Maybe because you’ve found a total of zero useful or incriminating things in them.”

“Well we’ve still got thirty more to check.” She turned to see Lorelei with a slight pout on her face. She flashed a smile to try and cheer up the jedi “I’m joking, to be honest I’ve been doing this to preoccupy myself more than anything.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I mean the two suspicious people don’t even have lockers here, so it doesn’t matter much.”

“I can’t believe you’re still on that.”

“Still on that?” Kara had to resist the urge to actually scoff at the girl “It’s only been, what, an hour since Jace’s boss poked and prodded at you.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I look a little odd, poking and prodding are things I’ve had to deal with before.”

“Unbelievable.” Kara began to pace “You’re just sitting there waiting for something to happen; I thought you were a jedi.”

“I’m a jedi that’s in hiding, a jedi that already had to blow her cover once, a jedi who could get kicked off your ship if she’s found out.”

“Drake wouldn’t kick you off the ship.”

“Really, because we had a talk that made me think otherwise.” Lorelei groaned again and began to pace, leaving Kara in her spot.

“Lorelei, Drake just cares about us.”

“I gathered that.”

“I mean he just wants everyone on the ship to be safe, that’s his number one priority.”

“Again, gathered that.”

“Well obviously you haven’t gathered that _you’re_ part of the ship.”

“I’ve been on the ship for less than a week, even if he cares he can’t care that much.”

“I think you’d be surprised.” Before Kara could continue the door to the room opened and Jace came through with a small wooden box, with Erran following close behind.

“I hope we’re not interrupting.” Erran’s voice was chipper, but the modulation still gave each word a sinister twinge.

“Got the last of your stuff” Jace said quickly, almost thrusting the box into Lorelei’s arms. Just as quickly Jace turned to leave only for Erran to place her hand on his breastplate and stop him dead in his tracks.

“You know when I saw Jace running frantically back and forth with your things I thought it seemed suspicious. Almost like what he was transporting was set to explode; or like it was something he didn’t want anyone to see.” The temperature in the room dropped as Lorelei gripped at the box and Kara began to ball her fist ever so slightly.

“That’s probably our fault, we just wanted our stuff back.” Lorelei tried to smile and deescalate the situation.  
“I can imagine, being without your tools and weapons; it’s like being naked.”

“Exactly.” Kara’s response was forced but she didn’t want to see threatening as she stood close behind Lorelei.

“It does make me wonder what kind of things you’re carrying. I mean you two are quite the odd pair, especially you, Lorelei, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Well since you’re fighting with us, can I see what kind of weapon you wield?” Lorelei’s eyes began to bulge. Kara tried to step forward but Erran stopped her with a similar gesture that she had given to Jace before, it was strangely effective “We’ll get to you in a second canvas.”

“It’s alright Kara.” She turned to look at Lorelei, she had opened the box and her demeanor had shifted slightly; there was a stern expression on her face, and she was looking directly at Erran,

“So, Lorelei, who are you really?” Erran didn’t turn to face the jedi as she spoke.

“My name _is_ Lorelei, I’m a jedi.” She turned the open box towards Kara; in place of her lightsaber there was a small wooden baton. From behind her back Erran drew the saber and shook it a little, she couldn’t help but let out a little giggle.

“I appreciate you trying to be more truthful with me, but I’m disappointed that we’re still withholding information.” Erran stepped away from the girls as she spoke, twiddling the lightsaber in her hand.

“I’m not lying to you.”

“Really, well I’m no expert on jedi but I don’t think red is exactly your color.” Erran ignited the blade causing Jace to jump a bit. The scarlet blade hummed menacingly as Erran moved it across her face “I sure do love it though.”

“It’s not my original lightsaber, I took it off a sith I killed; but I am a jedi.”

“Now _that_ I can buy.” Erran quickly turned the blade off and handed it to Lorelei “It’s nice to know I’ll have a real killer on my side.”

“That’s all?” Lorelei said, even though she had her weapon back she felt threatened by the masked woman and she was determined to stay on the defensive.

“Lorelei we already have a deal in place, and I’m not in the business of messing with jedi currently. I just want you to know that you shouldn’t withhold anything from, it’ll just make you look stupid when I find out.” She stepped forward and reached for the girl’s face. This time Lorelei’s hand shot up, faster than Kara had ever seen or that Erran had expected. Slowly the mad grab turned into a handshake.

“I think at this point we should keep things professional, don’t touch my face.” Lorelei looked directly into Erran’s visor and waited for some sort of response. She gave a slight nod and Lorelei immediately loosened her grip. “Just send Jace to get us when you need us.”

“Will do.” With that Lorelei turned away from the woman “Oh by the way, the plan has changed a bit.

“What?” Kara was legitimately taken aback; not only did it seem that Erran was till toying with them, but she bounced back from Lorelei’s small show of force immediately.

“Well now that I know we have a Mandalorian _and a jedi_ in our employ there’s no need to wait and put together some complex battle plan. We’ll move out in a few hours; be ready.” Now Erran turned to leave, touching Jace on the shoulder as she walked “Make sure they’re ready and on a shuttle with you when it’s time.” Jace offered a nod and waited for the door to close before taking a seat on one of the benches.

“Well, that was a disaster.”

“How did she figure it out” Kara said, growling directly at Jace.

“She just did, it’s not my fault she isn’t a dolt.”

“At least she wasn’t upset” Lorelei mumbled as she twirled her lightsaber in her hands.  
“For all we know she’s already contacted the Empire.”

“No, Erran is a lot of things, and apparently a lot more I didn’t know about, but she’s no friend to the Empire.”

“Oh please” Kara growled again “I think we’re through listening to you and trusting you Jace, it’s clear she’s got eyes on you because you insist on hanging around us.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, if Lorelei wasn’t a decent person, I wouldn’t give you a second thought.” Now almost nose to nose Jace and Kara both considered how a small fight between the two of them might go.

“Cut it out.” Lorelei physically placed herself between the two of them “Kara, nothing I said about Jace has changed; we can still trust him.”

“Thank you” Jace said before Lorelei quickly tuned and began to point the lightsaber at him.

“Jace, you need to try and stick close to us from now on, and away from here. Something tells me she’s not going to hold up her end of the bargain and just let us get to our friends and go.”

“You’re probably right, she can’t threaten to call the Empire, but I’m sure she can think of something worse as soon as the deal is over.”

“So much for your pretty cool boss.” Kara laughed a little.

“Clearly she’s a bit more sinister then I cared to notice, and I’m sorry; but I’m still with you guys, and I still wanna keep your secret.” Lorelei cracked a small smile at this.

“How” Kara blurted out “Once we’re on that battlefield everyone is going to see her swinging around that laser sword.”

“I could always use a gun.”

“You don’t know how to use a gun.” Jace looked over at Lorelei for a response but she simply nodded in agreement.

“It doesn’t matter if you can use a gun, you’re not going to be on that battlefield.”

“No Jace, Erran will kill you if we disappear during that fight.”

“Well she can’t kill me if she’s dead.” Both girls raised their eyebrows at this “Don’t give me any looks, it’s not like I’ve been plotting this” he paused for second “but the way she acted with you two, the way she was playing with that thing; that’s not the kind of bounty hunter I signed up to work with.”

“So, you’re some sort of noble gun for hire.”

“Okay enough of your shit; Kara I’m as much the blood thirsty killer you seem to _think_ I am as you are just some woman on a trek!” Kara backed down immediately; even Lorelei took a few steps back. Jace rubbed the back of his helmet “Nobody knows this but, Arkesh is my home.”

“You’re kidding” Kara almost whispered.

“When I heard about what was happening, I wanted to come and see for myself. It’s not like I had family left here or anything but still, when you hear your house is on fire you kinda want to see what’s going on.” As he spoke, he began to pace a little. The girls watched him as he walked “Pretty soon it was clear that the ‘terrorists’ were just trying to defend this place.”

“So, you’re telling us all of this now, why?”

“Are you kidding?” Jace let out a confused laugh ‘When I went into town today it was because Erran said it was going to be bombed, I wanted to evacuate so I went and said I’d try and find the culprits before it happened.” He then pointed to Lorelei “Then I find you, miss jedi, under some rubble. Then I meet your crazy friend who nearly starts a mess hall fight with my boss.” He paused again, now a little exacerbated “I just wasn’t sure what to do, or if I could trust you, sound familiar?” Kara felt her face redden at this.

“So, what, now you’re out of options so it’s time to usurp and trust the strangers?”

“Either that or we all put on a brave face and go kill locals; and I sure as hell don’t want to do that.” Jace went over to a plain wall and placed his palm on it. The orange rock discolored until a small metal panel had taken its place. Kara let out a small noise, as if impressed. Jace quickly strapped the equipment inside to his arms and belt before turning around “We don’t have a lot of time and I can’t risk telling you the plan, just pretend it’s business as usual till I give the signal.” With that he hands them each a chip “Plug these into your wrist communicators, the signal is three yellow flashes.”

“Jace.” Lorelei wasn’t able to stop him as he left. She let out a small sigh

“Like he said, we don’t have a lot of time.” 

“This is getting ridiculous.”

“You’re telling me, I’m going to try and contact the guys before we have to go; for all we know they’ll be on that battlefield trying to save _us_.” Kara began to fidget with her communicator as Lorelei clipped her saber to her belt. She thought about how Erran had confronted her, how she had figured out Jace was hiding things almost effortlessly. There was no way she didn’t know he was planning something; and there was no way she would let it just happen. Lorelei clenched her fist and tried to choke down the thought that was slowly bubbling up; but the more she fought it the harder it was to think of an alternate plan. IF any of this was going to work, she’d have to stop Erran herself, before she hurt Jace or Kara, or any of the others. She nodded softly and unclenched her fist, resolve in her heart. It wasn’t the jedi way, hell her old masters probably would have scolded her for even thinking of pulling a back stab; but they weren’t here, and it wouldn’t be the first time she had to make a tough decision.


	9. Satisfaction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The other members of the Ventrum have a brief meeting with one of the leaders of the Arkesh rebellion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter this week, but things are gonna get exciting soon

Zed watched as Bale prepared to slowly take everything out of Kara’s toolbox and sort it again. This had been going on for maybe an hour, it had been two since Drake had come back with his news. From the way Bale had been acting Zed assumed he was just worried about being able to get Kara back, he was too but he was more worried about what he’d been hearing. “You wanna talk about anything?” Zed looked up, slightly surprised to see Bale staring back at him, tapping a wrench in his hand.  
“What are you talking about?”

“Zed, I know you’ve been listening to all the communications going on in that place.” The droid gave a little chuckle “Are you going to lie and same I’m paranoid?”

“No, no you’re right; how’d you figure it out so fast though?”

“Because you used my ship.”

“Our ship Bale, we all live here.”

“You used _my ship_ ” he said, a little louder this time “I got an alert as soon as you did it.”

“Well next time I promise to ask for permission.”

“Why’d you do it?”

“Honestly?” Zed gave an exaggerated shrug, allowing his parts to make a subtle whir “I was curious; our boss goes in there with a kid we find in the middle of an explosion and he comes out saying we’re gonna help them fight?”

“Well that was the deal.”

“Yeah but forget the deal for a second Bale. We were here to clear our ship for travel; now there’s a civil war and we’re already on a side.”

“Yeah, cause the other side blew up a market and took our friend and the jedi.”

“Okay but we don’t know that.”

“Zed, did you actually find anything while you were spying on them?”

“No, unfortunately.” Zed folded his arms “They seem like they’re actually just fighting for their home, and they’re losing.”

“Sounds like a decent cause.”

“I just wish we knew more before we took up arms with them.”

“Well you could always ask.” Zed and Bale both swiveled to see a woman walking up the ramp, she had streaks of gray in her hair. Bale cursed himself, he hadn't raised the ramp since Drake had come back; after the news he had pretty much gotten to work making the ship, and himself, ready for the fight. The woman walked up slowly, a friendly smile on her face “When one of my security came to me and said there had been a breach, I was more confused than anything.”

“Yeah about that, I was just curious.”

“So, I heard” She sat on a box gingerly and crossed her legs “Ask me anything you want, I have no reason to lie to you.”

“I’m good, I just want my friend back” Bale said, sliding Kara’s toolbox back in its spot and heading for his room. Zed sat in silence for a few minutes, twiddling his large fingers.

“I guess a good start would be a name.”

“It is Aerial.”

“Alright Aerial, what exactly is going on here?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Civil wars don’t happen overnight, and they don’t usually happen for no reason at all.”

“That much is true” the woman gave a deep sigh “For starters it’s not much of a Civil War when the other side aren’t from the planet.”

“So, what, it was just improper naming?”

“I don’t know if Vance mentioned it to you, but our enemy are hired guns, bounty hunters. The one who hired them is Hutt who wanted the planet.”

“Why exactly?”

“We talked to him three times, each time he said the planet would be a perfect place for his businesses; what he meant by that I shudder to think.”

“So, you refused.”

“So, we refused, and he promised he’d make us see it this way.”

“Civil war, because a local want to become ruler; and you guys couldn’t stop him.”

“Arkesh is just a stopping point, it’s for trade and not much else. We didn’t have any leaders or military.” After this there was another moment of silence before Zed nodded.

“Alright, one last thing; if this all works out and you win, what then?”

“Besides breath a sigh of relief?”

“Yes.”

“We’ve talked about holding an election, making Arkesh a more organized trade planet with a leader, a council, an army.”

“And you think you and the others will be ready for that, you think the others will be okay with it?”

“You seem to know a lot little robot.”

“I like to read.” Aerial laughed.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been losing this war for as long as we’ve been fighting it. We’ve had to work quietly, carefully; anyone on the planet who stays knows we’re trying to do good and everyone else is, well they aren’t locals.”

“Well you’ve got my vote.” Zed offered out a hand to help her up “If you don’t mind, we have a battle to prep for.”

“Of course, I trust you won’t be snooping around anymore?”

“I’ll do my best to refrain.”


	10. Approaching Conflict

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back with the bounty hunters, Lorelei and Kara prepare to assault the rebel base and find a way to break free of their strange captivity

The hanger of the bounty hunter base was just as impressive as the rest of it. It seemed as if they had simply built everything in or around existing cave structures. The drop ships themselves were a mix of junkers and ships with junk bolted onto them. Lorelei had to double take at the sight of a pair of old Republics drop ships that been painted over with swampy greens and browns, the small gunner seats replaced with large shabby looking cannons. Jace and Kara were already in one of them but as Lorelei made her way over to join them a familiar voice piped up behind her “I’m afraid they’re at capacity, you’re welcome to ride with me however.” Lorelei turned to see Erran, sporting more pouches and equipment then usual ‘If that’s alright.”

“It’s fine, let’s get moving.”

“Oh, someone’s excited to kill some terrorists I see.” Even though Lorelei couldn’t see it, just the thought of Erran smiling under her helmet sickened her. They boarded another drop ship crowded with bounty hunters and after a few moments the doors closed, the interior lights switched on and the lurch of detaching clamps told them that they were on their way to the rebel hideout.

The murmur of engines stopped the ride from being completely silent, but Lorelei could still catch snippets of conversation between the others. They seemed either very excited or very worried about the fight. As Lorelei tried to focus on more conversations her eyes drifted over their gear; lots of rifles and blaster pistols, thermal detonators, and wrist mounted launchers. One thing that caught her eye were that about half of the bounty hunters were wearing communicators; they looked crude and their circuitry was exposed but Lorelei was able to recognize a small component that jutted out on each one, the same one Jace hadn’t given to Kara and her. She tried to stop a smile from creeping across her face, so Jace wasn’t just planning on stopping Erran, he was going to overthrow her from the inside. Passing over everyone she could see again it looked like at least half of the people present were wearing Jace’s little communicators. Almost immediately Lorelei felt a weight lift from her shoulders, she could abandon her plan and stick to Jace’s “Well, you almost look more excited then I do.” Erran’s voice tore through Lorelei’s mind like a hot knife and the weight immediately returned to her shoulders.

“I’m excited to see my friends and get on with our travels.”

“I can imagine, getting caught up in all this is going to be quite the blemish on your trek.” 

“If we can help people, it’ll be worth it.” Lorelei found herself reaching for her saber, ever so slightly.

“That’s quite the chipper attitude, but who exactly do you think you’ll be helping?” Lorelei opened her mouth to respond but quickly close it, she knew. Erran let out a little sigh “It’s hard being in my position Lorelei, really; it’s hard _having_ to see what people don’t want you to, _knowing_ that you have traitors all around you.”

“You say all that like you’re used to it.”

“Unfortunately, but never on this scale.” The drop ship shuffled a bit causing everyone inside to shake around “I have to admit it’s going to be very rewarding when Jace activates his little signal though.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, little jedi; you’re far too smart to play _that_ stupid.” The drop ship jostled again “My only regret with all this is that I wasn’t really able to play both sides.” At this Lorelei whipped around, saber in hand, but when she turned, she saw Erran looking back at her, finger hovering over small button on her gauntlet “Maybe next time I’ll pick a more interesting back water ball.” Lorelei pressed the button and the cabin began to echo with small chirps as tens of communicators began to flash yellow. A moment of confusion washed over the cabin and everyone seemed to look at each other dumbfounded, then punches began being thrown and people were wrestling to grab their blasters or trying to stop opponents from drawing their own. Erran pushed herself out of Lorelei’s reach and towards the front of the drop ship. Lorelei tried to follow but she quickly lost sight of the woman and was caught up in a squabble between two or three bounty hunters. The cramped room began to jostle back and forth, and blaster shots began to fire off, only making everyone scream and fight harder. Lorelei dodged a few rouge punches and tried desperately to find Erran. For a moment she caught a glimpse of her helmet and tried to focus on it, if she lost her again in the crowd, she might not be able to find her. As she moved towards the fragment, she wondered what she was heading for; emergency controls to open the doors, some sort of fuel line to light the whole ship a light. As she focused on pushing through the crowd a lucky punch struck her right in the back of the head. She fell to one knee and quickly turned to see the attacker winding up to deliver another blow. Dazed and mad Lorelei screamed and threw out her hands at the bounty hunter. He flew backwards and slammed against the wall, pinned there by the force. Just as others began to notice Lorelei shifted her focus and pushed again, screaming. Now everyone in the cabin flew away and flattened against every wall. Now with the middle clear Lorelei rose to her feet and ignited her lightsaber. She ran towards the door separating the pilot from the cabin and opened it. AS it slid aside, she saw Erran with a blaster to the pilot’s head. Again, Lorelei couldn’t see her smile; but just before she pulled the trigger, the jedi could _feel_ the evil grin across Erran’s face. The shot was clean and quick through the pilot’s head. The body slumped forward, and the drop ship immediately began to plummet.


	11. The Advantage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew of the Ventrum finally reunite with Lorelei; unfortunately, they also have to meet Erran

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I continue to intake oxygen! Don't wanna bog down the start so there'll be a proper note at the end. Enjoy

Bale watched through the binoculars as the gunship plummeted, it wasn’t until the tree line hid the ship form his view that he blinked and handed the binocs back to the solder he had snatched them from “Sorry.” Quickly he ran down the stairs of the small perch he had been in. All around him soldiers were running with weapons and boxes and bags. They had spent the last few hours preparing a frontline, it was few miles from the base itself and with any luck they’d be able to hold it for most of the battle. Bale ran across the busy area towards a small tent where Drake and Ariel were studying a paper map “One of their ships just went down, not sure why.”

“Where did it go down exactly?”

“Not sure, I lost sight of it when it fell below the trees.”

“Bounty hunter equipment doesn’t just break down, does it?” Aerial shook her head in response. Drake gave a nod and gave Bale a small motion to start following him “I’ll take some guys out to see what happened.”

“What” Aerial said, a little startled at her own volume “They’ll be here in no time, we need you.”

“Don’t worry, Zed and the Ventrum will still be here” he gave her a lax salute “my ship is your ship, have fun with it.” With that Drake and Bale left the tent. Aerial let out a sigh and rested against the table slightly. Her eyes drifted back over the map; they had marked out the field they wanted to keep the battle in. It was a barren spot, no high ground, nowhere to hide, even with their tools and vehicles anything the bounty hunters threw their way, they would see coming. Ariel tapped the communicator on her wrist and waited for an answer. A small voice cracked through “Yes ma’am?”

“Lance, go with Drake; he’s scouting ahead, and he needs some support.”

“I’m on it.” The comm clicked off and Aerial looked back at the map. They hadn't had much time to put the plan together, but it was all she had; and even though she didn’t want to jinx it, she liked the plan, she thought it would work. 

Drake fidgeted with his gun in the loading bay of the Ventrum while Bale tapped feverously on his tablet “The Speeders are being a little difficult, should be ready go in another minute or two.” It wasn’t ideal but Drake just grimaced and focused on his blaster.

“You know, if you needed transport you could have just asked.” Both men turned to see Lance, smile on his face, rolling a speeder up the ramp of the ship.

“No offense kid but I don’t see us all fitting on that thing” Drake joked. The thing was in good shape but at the same time, it was clear that it had been beaten and put back together a few times.

“Well that’s what the other two are for.” Lance gave the bike a slap before turning to head back outside “Hurry up, I wanna get this done and get back before the fun starts.” Bale placed his tablet down and ran after the boy, nearly knocking Drake over. He gave a small laugh, Bale wasn’t really good hiding how excited he was to get the girls back, but it wasn’t like he was the only one feeling it. Drake stowed his blaster and ran down the ramp after them.

The other speeders had a similar look, bits of plating that didn’t match the rest of the bike, clear signs of crude welding; but they were running. Drake flipped a few switches on his bike and sped off with the others close behind him. The roar of the speeder echoed across the camp and everyone watched the three trails of dust cross what would soon be the battlefield. When they crashed through the forests and the sound began to drift off everyone returned to work, all the while soldiers watched the approaching drop ships approaching, the sun just starting to set behind them.

The forest was thick, but the speeders were fast enough to cut through any brush in their way. The men on the bikes had to duck down to avoid any rogue debris blinding them. As the forest began to become thicker Lance and Drake slowed up, but Bale continued, taking the lead. Only using what he had from memory he tried to follow the path of the falling ship. Whether it was luck or his guiding the began to come across broken trees and bits of kicked up dirt. There were a couple sharp turns as the began to follow the field of debris and before long they were on the edge of a small cliff, looking down at a shallow swamp where the drop ship had crashed. Still mostly intact the front of the plane had started to sink into the water. Drake noticed a few bodies floating in the surrounding water, none that resembled their friends though “We should get down there.”

“Yeah, I’m not exactly seeing a _way_ down, and the bikes aren’t bog proof.” Lance leaned against the controls of his bike and scanned the area.

“Over there.” Bale said before speeding off. Lance and Drake watched him slowly drive around the side of the cliff side towards an area that seemed to deescalate and lead back to the swamp. With a rev of the bikes they were both off.

Meanwhile, inside the ship Lorelei was slowly stirring. She touched her hand to her head, wet, in a panic she pulled her hand away and tried to look for any blood, the interior of the ship was dark, a few beams of light coming through the blast doors. In frustration she let her hand droop only to feel it splash into something. She looked down and watched the water rippling, not blood, water; they must have landed in a pond or something. Slowly she lifted herself up, testing the water level. It wasn’t rising, but it was up to her knees. Lorelei looked around the dark area for any sign of Erran but she couldn’t find her. There were a few floating lumps, bodies, but she tried her best to ignore them. She turned her attention to the doors of the drop ship. First, she tried pulling them open, the metal strained slightly but there was no give. With a defeated sigh she took a deep breath and stepped away from the door. Hand raised, Lorelei closed her eyes and tried to will the door open. The creaking of the metal encouraged her to continue, slowly moving her hand as if she were sliding the door. The creaking continued until there was the sound of water rushing in. Lorelei’s eyes shot open in time to notice the water rising up to her waist and slowly waded towards the open door. There was only enough space to squeeze through, but she slid out quickly. Outside of the drop ship she looked around at the small swamp and the surrounding trees. As she slowly began to plod towards the shore a dark figure under the water began swimming after her. The sound of speeder bikes made her stop suddenly and drop until she was submerged up to her nose. Lorelei’s eyes shot around the shore for any sign of bounty hunters on bikes, she didn’t even know the bounty hunters _had_ speeder bikes. When she didn’t spot anything she started to slowly rise out of the water again only for a hand to shoot out, grab her by the hair, and pull her down into the water. It was a murky green under the waves, hard to see and as her eyes adjusted Lorelei felt and arm wrap around her neck and begin to strangle her. Lorelei fought to get away from the arm while trying to control her breathing. Swinging wildly, she managed to elbow the assailant and slip out of the choke hold. She turned and kicked the dark figure before turning to swim back up. With a gasp she broke the surface and started swimming for the shore, kicking and slapping the water as fast as she could, assuming whoever had grabbed her was seconds behind. When she reached the shore with no trouble, she figured she had enough time to stop and catch her breath. Hands on her knees, Lorelei took a few deep shaky breaths, then the sound of the speeders came back, this time closer. She reached for her lightsaber only to find it wasn’t there. In a panic she turned to look at the spot where it should have been on her belt, nothing. As the panic began to build and bubble into her throat, she heard a whistle. Lorelei looked up slightly to see Erran slowly walking out of the water, twiddling a lightsaber in her hand “You should really take better care of this.”

The roar of the speeders seemed to cut back into focus again and her head swung around to see Drake, Bale, and a strange boy riding up. She was so happy to see them she could cry, then a blaster bolt whizzed past and knocked Drake off his bike. The engine of the speeder sputtered, the whole bike began to lose balance and started rolling violently towards Lorelei. She whipped her head back to see Erran, smoke still coming off the blaster pistol in her hand. She quickly willed the saber from her hand and turned to face the bike, still barreling towards her. Once she felt the metal of the blade in her hands, she held her hand in front of her and flipped on the saber. The speeder went right through the crimson blade, cutting it in two. The slash and passing of the bike had kicked up some smoke, but she could roughly make out two of the men helping up a third, Drake was alright. Lorelei, again, let relief and happiness wash over her, only for it to be choked out of her as a wire wrapped around her neck, making her gag. Erran, arm outstretched with her other hand on top of the grappling hook equipped gauntlet, gave the wire a tug and watched the jedi’s footing give way, she couldn’t help but smile. With another tug she watched the girl drop to one knee and abandoned her blade in the swampy ground. She prepared to give another tug before drawing her gun only for a shot to ring out, just missing her. She quickly shot back at the men huddled behind their two remaining speeders. The one in the red jacket responded with a shot that struck her straight in the chest. The armor took the blow but Erran had to adjust her own footing as to not fall backwards into the swamp water. In disbelief she looked down at her feet for half a second, as if they had betrayed her. Then there was the sound of a lightsaber igniting followed by a tug on the wire.

Lorelei cut the rope with her blade and Drake took two more shots at the masked bounty hunter. The woman grunted before tossing a small cylinder into the wet earth. The thing spat out thick gray smoke and allowed Erran to activate her jet pack, flying directly up. She stopped in the air and looked down at the little specks then up at the drop ships still moving towards the base. With any luck the jedi would make it back to the battlefield, then they could finish their little spat.

Drake coughed and sputtered as the smoke began to clear. Through squinted eyes he saw Lorelei walking forward, blade still alight. She beamed at them “Hey, long time no see.” Drake gave her a bit of a glare, his eyes darting to the blade. Slightly embarrassed she turned off the blade and stowed it back on her belt “Sorry.”

“I thought I told you to keep a low profile.”

“You act like I was the one who caused the explosion” she joked. Drake couldn’t help laughing a little, if she was making jokes, she must have been fine.

“Where’s Kara?” Again, Bale pushed past his captain and almost grabbed Lorelei by the shoulders.

“On another drop ship, heading towards the base of some terrorists.”

“Terrorists?” This time it was the little boy, he hopped form behind the speeder and stomped towards her “We are _not_ terrorists, we’re fighting for our home!”

“Well the bounty hunters don’t think that.”

“Well they’re paid not to think that” he grumbled.

“I don’t think you’re a terrorist.” Lorelei took a short breath, it seemed a little harder than usual for some reason “Before the ship went down Erran, the bounty hunter, she said a lot of weird stuff.”

“Weird how?” Drake stowed his blaster again and rubbed at the spot where the blaster bolt and struck him, again it was his metal arm that took the hit.

“Well she made it sound like she was playing both sides against each other, like this was just some sort of fake conflict.”

“Who benefits from that” Lance asked, a little flabbergasted.

“How about a Hutt, pissed that he doesn’t get to own the planet?” Heads swiveled towards Drake as he spoke. Shaking his own head, he started to move towards the bikes “I don’t have time to explain, double up on the bikes, we have to get back to Aerial.”

“Who’s Aerial?”

“Bikes, now please.”

“Okay” Lorelei grumbled “Just walked away from plane crash give me a-” She cut herself off with a grimace. Drake looked back to see Bale struggling to hold up the jedi holding her side. Blood was leaking from between her fingers. Drake rushed to help her to the bikes “I think a piece of the speeder cut me; I’ll be okay.”

“People who start collapsing in pain usually won’t be okay for a little.” With a grunt they lifted her onto the bike. Wearily she looked up.

“Like you said, we have to get going.”

“So, let’s go; we’ll get you some medical attention then we’ll deal with the bounty hunter.” Bale and Lance scrambled onto the other bike while Drake scooted in front of Lorelei who laid against him, clearly exhausted and in more pain then she was willing to admit. Slowly he sputtered up to top speed and both bikes began the trip back to the battlefield.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've been really absent lately; I'm fine pretty much but I just got bogged down by other stuff. This Summer has been really weird and I've picked up more little hobbies in addition to writing for here on the site, problem is I dont have time to do everything. But I do still wanna write, I miss it, and I've been having ideas; so I have to do a little shuffling.
> 
> First thing's first, since I've now broken it more than I stuck to it I'm gonna say that from now on, I dont really have a schedule; but to replace that I will just upload when I feel like it, and, little known secret, I often felt like uploading on days that weren't Saturday but resisted. 
> 
> Second; I'm gonna try and finish the two open stories I have now (Star Wars and Hawkeye and Deadpool) then take a short break to work on the several stories I have started but not in a state where I want to start publishing them yet. I will say that right now one is gonna be more Transformers, one will be the next Star Wars story, and one is undecided; either it's going to be something I start from now that's Last of Us related or something I've been quietly doing that's Power Rangers related.
> 
> Thanks if you've read this, read any of my stories, or just read my stuff in general. I really love writing and I hope you're legitimately enjoying it; cause I mean it when I say enjoy. Talk to you soon💜


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